How Much Are You Worth?
As salary-men, we all want good raises, regardless of the economic situation. As part of the corporate management, of course the budget has to be observed and it is important to align staff expectation with what the company is prepared or able to pay. Inevitably, there is the negotiation process, whatever the bargaining protocol is.
Frankly, this is one part of my otherwise fulfilling job I don't find particularly enjoyable, especially when someone just came up to me and insisted that "he is underpaid because the guy next door is driving a nice 4 wheel-drive, that the guy earns double of what he does". Intuitively, I asked for the guy's pay slip as evidence of proof, which of course he couldn't produce.
In hindsight, I wonder why I would need that evidence of proof at all, given the broad benchmarking information I already have had. I should have asked the staff why he was hinging his own happiness on what somebody else had, in which case, he would never feel having enough and never feel happy - he surely will covet something better than the 4 wheel-drive before long. But perhaps that's really how fleeting the sense of happiness is - so conditional upon a person's relative social status.
Anyway, I did cut short the discussion/argument. After all, I couldn't help but suggest to him that everyone is entitled to his own perception and belief of his own worth which, perhaps, could only be verified upon finding an alternative job which pays that much.
Frankly, this is one part of my otherwise fulfilling job I don't find particularly enjoyable, especially when someone just came up to me and insisted that "he is underpaid because the guy next door is driving a nice 4 wheel-drive, that the guy earns double of what he does". Intuitively, I asked for the guy's pay slip as evidence of proof, which of course he couldn't produce.
In hindsight, I wonder why I would need that evidence of proof at all, given the broad benchmarking information I already have had. I should have asked the staff why he was hinging his own happiness on what somebody else had, in which case, he would never feel having enough and never feel happy - he surely will covet something better than the 4 wheel-drive before long. But perhaps that's really how fleeting the sense of happiness is - so conditional upon a person's relative social status.
Anyway, I did cut short the discussion/argument. After all, I couldn't help but suggest to him that everyone is entitled to his own perception and belief of his own worth which, perhaps, could only be verified upon finding an alternative job which pays that much.
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